Historic Pelham

Presenting the rich history of Pelham, NY in Westchester County: current historical research, descriptions of how to research Pelham history online and genealogy discussions of Pelham families.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

The 1895 Oyster War Involving City Island Oystermen - Part II


This is the second of a two-part series.  For both parts, see:

Wed., Jun. 24, 2015:  The 1895 Oyster War Involving City Island Oystermen - Part I.

Thu., Jun. 25, 2015:  The 1895 Oyster War Involving City Island Oystermen - Part II.

Two days after Captain Augustus D. Merritt of City Island quieted the angry mob of City Island oystermen as he was hauled off to jail, on April 22, 1895, lawyers for the oystermen and for the Matinecock Oyster Company appeared in a local court where a judge issued an injunction retraining all parties from dredging or taking oysters from the bed claimed by the company. 



"MOB THREATENS TO RESCUE CAPT. MERRITT.
(A CROWD ASSEMBLED ON THE WHARF AT CITY ISLAND,
BUT THE PRISONER COUNSELLED MODERATION.)
Source:  CHASED OYSTER PIRATES, The World [NY, NY],
Apr. 21, 1895, p. 5, cols. 2-3.

Additionally, the State Fish Commission had a survey of the Matinecock Oyster Company’s underwater lands performed. The survey concluded that the Matinecock Oyster Company had not encroached outside the grounds defined in its lease ratified by the State Legislature. 

Immediately thereafter, on April 30, 1895, the charges against Captain Merritt were settled with the captain agreeing to reimburse the company for oysters he removed from its oyster bed. However, claims against other alleged oyster pirates from City Island and Bayville, Long Island continued until mid-May when a settlement was reached. All but one of the oystermen agreed to admit to trespass, to pay the company a total of $1,100 in damages, and to agree to an injunction restraining them from harvesting oysters from the bed claimed by the company. The last remaining oysterman, Sidney Weeks of Bayville, “was selected to stand trial on the charge of piracy for the purpose of testing the constitutionality of the law” permitting the State Legislature to ratify leases like the company’s. 

Although there was a seeming consensus that the Matinecock Oyster Company had had enough and would relinquish its bed at the end of its brief lease, the City Island oystermen vowed to raise a fund of $2,500 to fund a lawsuit in federal court to overturn the authority of the State Legislature to ratify leases such as that awarded to Matinecock Oyster Company. It seems, however, that no such lawsuit was ever filed. On May 21, 1895, the test case of Sydney Weeks of Bayville, Long Island made it to trial. The company put on a strong case and, according to one account, used leases, grants, testimony, and more and “proved the loss of a lot of oysters” taken by Weeks. Despite a judge who allegedly was biased against Weeks, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. It was considered a “severe setback” for the company and a major victory for all oystermen. 

The Matinecock Oyster Company was no longer the threat feared by the oystermen. Pelham’s last great oyster war was over.

[End of Part II -- Articles Constituting the Research for this Posting Appear Below.]

*          *          *          *          *

"READY TO MEET OYSTER PIRATES.
-----
Sheriff Doht Sends Deputies to Guard the Beds and to Resist Raids.

The officials of the Mattinecock [sic] Oyster Company fear that the alleged oyster pirates of City Island are going to make a raid on the beds of the company.  

The officers of the company yesterday expected a raid would be made last evening, but the alleged pirates did not go near the disputed beds.

However, fourteen deputies were sent by Sheriff Doht, of Queens county, to the scene of the expected trouble.

Lawyer William J. Youngs, of Oyster Bay, counsel of the oyster company, called upon Sheriff Doht this morning and asked for more deputies.  Twelve more were sent.

The trouble between the oyster company and the oyster 'pirates' started when the company secured a lease from the State of 200 acres of land in the Sound to plant oysters.  Before this the oyster pirates, who are really baymen of City Island, depended on the dredging of oysters for a living, were free to dredge in the waters of the Sound.  

As soon as the company secured the lease of the ground the City Island oystermen did not go in the ground claimed by the company.  They say that a short time ago they were surprised on seeing the company staking off 900 acres of land and claimed it.

The City Island men continued to dredge in the 700 acres of land which they claimed the company did not have a lease for.  They threatened violence if they were not allowed to dredge for oysters, and when the officials of the company tried to drive them away they resisted and then Lawyer Youngs appealed to the authorities for protection.  An injunction was obtained by the Mattinecock company forgidding the alleged pirates from dredging.

Lawyer Youngs said to-day the report that the company claimed more than the 200 acres they leased was false.  He said the southeast end of their bed is the Government buoy and this was used as a starting point from which the 200 acres were marked off.

He said the engineer of the Mattinecock company did not do the surveying, but it was done by Edward P. Doyle, engineer of the State Fish Commission, from which the company leased the beds  Lawyer Youngs stated that every bushel that had been carried off was taken from the beds of the company.

On the other hand the City Island oyster men claim that they never went within the two hundred acres which the company leased, to dredge oysters.  The men say they are going to dredge and that they will not allow their families to starve."

Source:  READY TO MEET OYSTER PIRATES -- Sheriff Doht Sends Deputies to guard the Beds and to Resist Raids, The Evening Telegraph [NY, NY], Apr. 23, 1895, p. 6, col. 2.

"WAR OVER THE OYSTER BEDS.
-----
THE DREDGERS, UNDER LEGAL ADVICE, WILL WORK ON.

The City Island oystermen, advised by Henry Clay Henderson, of New York City, their counsel, decided last night to make another descent upon the oyster beds this morning in twenty-five sloops.  President George M. Fletcher, of the Matinecock Oyster Company, and William J. Youngs, his lawyer, secured from Justice Barnard, in Long Island City, yesterday, an injunction restraining all fishermen from encroaching upon the grounds leased by the Fish Commission to the company.  Sheriff Dohl, with Deputy Sheriff Billings and fifteen other deputy sheriffs and policemen, were sent out on the tug Golden Rule to guard the oyster beds against the expected raid

The lease of the Matinecock Company covers 200 acres of the 2,000 acres of natural oyster beds.  The oystermen deny that they encroach upon the 200 acres preserved to the company, and they insist upon their right to work on the area outside of that 200 acres.  Both sides are determined, and the oystermen show a disposition to fight for their rights.  Lawyer Henderson has prepared to sue President Fletcher, of the Matinecock Company; Deputy Sheriff Samuel P. Billings, of Queens County, and Sergeant John Egan, of the Long Island Railroad police, for $50,000 damages for false arrest and imprisonment.

Deputy Sheriffs Billings and Lewis arrested, late last night, Capt. Weeks, of the Bayville fleet, on a charge of poaching on the Matinecock oyster beds."

Source:  WAR OVER THE OYSTER BEDS, The Daily Standard Union [Brooklyn, NY], Apr. 23, 1895, p. 3, col. 3.  

"THE ALLEGED OYSTER PIRATES.
-----
An Injunction Restraining Them from Dredging in the Matinecock Beds.

There was a lull yesterday in the strife between the oystermen of City Island and the Matinecock Oyster Company, which claims an exclusive right to 200 acres of the bed about Matinecock Point, L. I.  William J. Young, counsel for the company, appeared before Judge Barnard in Long Island City, and asked for an injunction restraining the oystermen from dredging on the grounds leased by his clients.  After listening to the argument Judge Barnard issued an injunction restraining all hands from dredging or taking oysters on the disputed beds, and later in the day the papers were served on a number of the alleged poachers in and about City Island.  

As soon as the news of the injunction spread among the oystermen they got together and decided to make no further attempt to take oysters until the matter is finally settled in court.  A committee consisting of Capt. Merrett [sic], Capt. Edgar Van Allen, Capt. Mulligan, Capt. Curren [sic], and Capt. Price, together with Lawyer H. C. Henderson, attorney for the oystermen, had a conference  with the Fish Commission yesterday afternoon.  Lawyer Henderson set forth the grievance of his clients, and the Commissioners promised to go to the oyster bed on Thursday and designate the territory to which the Matinecock company is entitled by its lease.  The committee returned to City Island last night, and made its report at a meeting of the oystermen, held in the Town Hall.  The men consented to stop all hostilities for the time, and they decided to accompany the Commissioners in a body to the beds on Thursday.

Capt. Merrett, who was arrested on Saturday by Deputy Sheriff S. T. Billings of Queens county, showed a summons for Billings and George M. Fletcher, President of the Matinecock Company, calling them to answer to a suit in the Supreme Court within twenty days.  He refused to speak of the nature of the action, but he said that his arrest, which took place in Westchester county,, was illegal, because the warrant was issued in Queens county.  He also hinted at kidnapping and talked about having both Billings and Fletcher arrested.

The oystermen on the Long Island side of the Sound also took a hand in the legal end of the business yesterday.  William Weeks Smith and David Hall applied to Judge Billings for a warrant for the arrest of Capt. Daniel Velsor of the steamer Angus for dredging on natural growth ground.  The application was denied, and the lawyers then applied to Justice White, who took the matter under advisement."

Source:  THE ALLEGED OYSTER PIRATES, The Sun [NY, NY], Apr. 23, 1895, p. 3, col. 5.

"The Oyster War Situation.

Oyster Bay, L. I., April 25--This will be a lively day at Matinnecock Point, the scene of the oyster war, as the survey is to be made by the fish commissioner, E. P. Doyle, to determine whether the Matinnecock Oyster company is occupying the grounds leased by it and no more.  It is a matter of grave importance to the oystermen, some of whom claim that the company is trying to hold 900 acres, when their lease only calls for 200 acres.  No injunctions were served yesterday, as no opportunity offered.  The sloop Louise J. Evans, one of the defendants named in the injunction issued by Judge Barnard, came on the ground long enough to warn the steamer c. H. Hoyt of Bridgeport, which was dredging for the purpose of loading a sloop for the oyster company, that if another dredge was thrown overboard the steamer would be libeled for dredging on natural growth ground.  The steamer at once headed for the shore and whistled for the officers of the company who were there.  A short conference resulted in the officers assuming the responsibility and the steamer returned to her work.  This was thought a good opportunity to serve the Evans with the papers and the officers boarded the steamer on her return, thinking to thus come up with the sloop.  But she was not to be caught napping.  Fearing that the prolonged whistling of the steamer when she went ashore was a signal she immediately went about, and when the officers on the steamer arrived where she was supposed to be she was not to be found.

The company expected to have the work of dredging with a steamer interfered with, and also expected arrests would be made.  Captain Daniel Velsor, with the steamer Argus, has also been engaged.  An effort was made to secure a warrant for his arrest, but the effort failed, as neither Justice Billings of Glen Cove nor White of Oyster Bay would issue one.  Nevertheless, Captain Velsor declined to repeat the act and the company were forced to go to Bridgeport for another steamer.  The G. H. Hoyt was secured and she took up 325 bushes of oysters in three hours, which were put aboard sloop Saxton, consigned to Bay Shore parties.

The oystermen have numerous specimens of the stuff to be found on the disputed ground, among which are oysters of immense size, which they will place in evidence as proof that the ground was natural growth ground and was so at the time the lease was made.

At 2 o'clock this afternoon a telegram was received from the secretary saying that the survey would have to be postponed until Monday on account of the appointment of a new commissioner.

Edward Thompson of Northport is the new fish and game commissioner, and news has reached here that his appointment was confirmed by the senate this afternoon.  He will be here to conduct the survey on Monday."

Source:  The Oyster War Situation, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Apr. 25, 1895, p. 7, col. 4.

"OYSTERMEN TO APPEAL TO LAW. 
----- 
The Alleged Pirates Will Raise a Fund of $2,500 to Fight With. 

GLEN COVE, L.I., April 30.--A fund of $2,500 is to be raised by oystermen who dredge in the Long Island Sound to test the right of the Legislature to ratify leases of natural-growth ground of oyster beds made by the Fish Commissioners. This decision is the outcome of the recent oyster war waged by oystermen from City Island and other points on the oyster beds of the Matinnecock Oyster Company of Oyster Bay and was arrived at yesterday when one of the alleged oyster pirates, Augustus D. Merritt of City Island, was arraigned before Justice Henderson, in this village, on a charge of poaching on the oyster beds of the Matinnecock Company. Merritt admitted the charge, but set up the claim that the beds are what is known as free ground. He was willing, however, to reimburse the company for the oysters taken and the case was adjourned and will be settled outside of the court. 

A meeting of the oystermen was held, and it was decided to take steps to carry the dispute to the United States courts if necessary, although the general feeling is that the Matinnecock Company will relinquish its holdings at the expiration of its present lease. 

It was shown on the survey made by Engineer Ford of the State Commissioners that the company had not encroached outside the grounds defined in the lease. The company asserts its deterimination to defend its claim." 

Source: Oystermen to Appeal to Law, N.Y. Times, May 1, 1895, p. 3.

"OYSTER WAR TRANSFERRED.
------
THE SO-CALLED PIRATES WILL FIGHT IN THE COURTS.

The oystermen who dredge in Long Island Sound, and have recently been driven from the oyster beds by law officers, under the authority of the courts and in defense of the alleged rights of a corporation, have held a meeting in Glen Cove and decided to make their fight in the courts.  A fund of $2,500 is to be raised to test the right of the Legislature to ratify leases of natural-growth ground of oyster beds made by the Fish Commissioners."

Source:  OYSTER WAR TRANSFERRED -- THE SO-CALLED PIRATES WILL FIGHT IN THE COURTS, The Standard Union [Brooklyn, NY], May 1, 1895, Vol. XXXI, No. 256, p. 3, col. 3.  

"OYSTERMEN TALK FIGHT.
-----
The So-Called Pirates Threaten Another Descent on the Matinecock Company's Beds.
-----
WILL APPEAL TO THE COURTS, TOO.
-----
They Claim the Company Grabbed Hundreds of Acres and Are Forcing Thousands of People to Starvation.
-----

The little village of City Island, the home of the Sound oystermen whose encounter on Saturday with deputy sheriffs and policemen employed by the Matinnecock [sic] Oyster Company was told exclusively in the Sunday World, was turned topsy-turvy yesterday with indignation.  Weather-beaten men who had spent years dredging oysters stood about the docks discussing and condemning the wrong they believed had been done them.

The young men of the village talked war, but the patriarchs counselled peace.  Wives, sweethearts and mothers hovered about, some indulging in bitter vituperation of the rich company and the police, others weeping for the days when the waters of the Sound were free to the humblest fisherman and the rich stores of the oyster-beds belonged to all who cared to go after them.

At anchor tossed the numerous fleet of oyster-boats.

'There,' said a venerable captain, pointing to the 500 sloops, 'is the means of our livelihood.  Take away our oyster beds and what good are our sloops to us?  If the courts do not come to our rescue we might as well pile those boats upon the beach and make a fire of them.  Five thousand men, women and children at City Island, Port Washington, Bayville, Oyster Bay and the other little ports about here will be robbed of the necessities of life.  All their heritage are the boats you see there and the God-given right to sell them on the free sea.'

WOULD RESCUE MERRITT.

This is the feeling that runs high in City Island, and is transforming a peaceful, quiet town into a turbulent community, where threats of violence and transgression of law are openly made.

The arrest on Saturday night of Augustus Merritt, captain of the sloop Katie G., intensified the feeling.  A number of young men proposed taking their fleet over to Glen Cove and rescuing the prisoner, but the leaders counselled moderation, and the plan was abandoned when a telegram was received announcing that he had been released on bail.  

Thereupon a big meeting of the Oystermen's Association of City Island, of which Judge John M. Bell is President and Capt. Frederick Glazier Secretary, was called in the town hall.

There were many turbulent speeches, but it was finally decided to employ counsel, and with Merritt's case as a basis to contest the legality of the Matinnecock [sic] Oyster Company's lease in the courts.  

A communication was sent to Lawer [sic] Henry Clay Henderson, of Westchester County, who has an office at No. 66 Broad street.  He agreed to take the case, and gave it as his opinion that the oystermen have an excellent case and a bright prospect of regaining possession of the Matinnecock [sic] oyster beds.

The leading men of the village met yesterday afternoon at the home of Augustus Merritt, the unfortunate captain who had fallen into the hands of the law officers the day before.  A representative of The World was invited to be present, as it was desired that an authoritative statement of the oystermen's side of the controversy should be given to the public through the columns of this newspaper.

OYSTERMEN NOT PIRATES.

Capt. Stephen Leviness, one of the oldest oystermen in the village, and Capt. John Price, jr., who is a leading spirit in the colony, gave out this statement:  

'The oyster industry on the Sound was founded about seventy years ago by Capt. Price, who fought aboard Commodore Perry's flagship during the war of 1812, and who, together with a number of other naval men, established a colony from which the present one has grown.  So you see we are pretty good Americans, and not from heritage, at least, the bloodthirsty pirates the Matinnecock [sic] Oyster Company would have the public believe.

'The oyster beds had not at that time attracted the greed of rich monopolists, and the shoal water along both shores of the Sound abounded in rich beds of natural-growth oysters.  these were exhausted one by one, replantings were made and the industry went on for years.

FORTUNES IN OYSTERS.

'Capts. Thomas Jennings, Benjamin Totten, Josiah [sic] Leviness and other old pioneers made fortunes out of their boats and dredges.  

'Over fifty years ago the Matinnecock oyster-beds were disappeared.  They were richer and more productive than any beds along the Sound.'

'I took oysters there forty-five years ago,' said Capt. Leviness.

'I have taken them there for twenty-five years,' added young Capt. Price.

'That's true!' cried the company in chorus.  Then Capt. Leviness resumed the narrative, Capt. Price interjecting corrections or admonitions.  

'We took oysters there unmolested until two years ago.  Connecticut in the mean time had attempted to usurp, for private owners, the beds along her shores.  We ignored her pretensions to ownership of the beds.  In 1878 the State authorities planted a cannon on Ship Ann Point, which commands a famous old oyster bed, and warned us that if a dredge was dropped they would sink our fleet.

CALHOUN TALKED FIGHT.

'We appealed to Collector Calhoun, of New York.  He despatched a revenue cutter to the spot, and the State authorities were warned that if a shot was fired the cutter would bombard the battery.  Collector Calhoun took the ground that the Sound was a public highway in the jurisdiction of the United States, and that it was not within the province of the State to interfere with navigation, or any of the industries dependent upon it.  The State authorities conceded this point tacitly by not again claiming any jurisdiction beyond the low-water mark of their shore.

'The question was never decided by the courts, as the issue was never made.  To the amazement of the oystermen, however, the New York Legislature two years ago passed a bill authorizing the Fish Commission to lease those oyster beds along the Sound for planting purposes which had been unproductive for five years.  To our further astonishment the commission advertised the Matinecock oyster-bed for lease.

THEIR PROTEST OF NO AVAIL.

'Seventy-five City Island men went before the commission prepared to swear that they were daily gathering seed oysters there, but a hearing was not given as Commissioner Huntington decided that the commission must be guided by the official survey of the bed, which included it among those that had been unproductive.  

'The Matinecock Oyster Company secured the lease at $4.50 an acre a year, but were given only 200 acres.  On July 13 and after they planted many thousand bushels of seed oysters, but not until September was the lease signed.  In the mean time their seed oysters had set and the company had a gold mine.

'Then we went to the Legislature with our grievance and the law was repealed, but the Commissioners decided that the lease made under the law must stand.

AN OCTOPUS AFTER OYSTERS.

'We still continued to dredge in that portion of the bed not included in the company's lease of 200 acres until recently, when to our astonishment, we found that the company had buoyed off the whole bed of 900 acres.  Then it was that we resolved to dredge upon the remaining 700 acres and resist with force any attempt to drive us away.  The attack upon us by an armed steam tug placed our sail craft at too great a disadvantage, and for the time being we were forced to submit to what we believe to be a great wrong and injustice.

'Capt. Merritt will to-morrow make a formal appeal for protection to Collector Kilbreth.  At the same time we have determined to fight the matter in the courts.  We will carry our cause to the highest court in the land, and we are confident that the law under which the lease was made will be proved inoperative on account of the State's lack of jurisdiction.  We therefore appeal to The World, knowing it to be the enemy of monopoly and the champion of the people, to present our position and claims in this controversy to the public.'

PRESIDENT FLETCHER TALKS.

President Fletcher, of the Matinecock Oyster Company, defined the company's position to a reporter as follows:

'The Fish Commissioners of the State of New York, acting under full warrant of the law, leased 200 acres of the Matinecock oyster bed to this company.  That lease is valid.  It represents to us an investment of from $20,000 to $25,000.  We have made this investment on the authority of the State and under its pledge to protect us in the full enjoyment and profit of our purchase.  While we have no enmity or bitterness towards the oystermen, we are determined that the State shall protect us in our rights from it derived.  We propose to make a test case of these arrests in this way -- that we intend to establish the legality of our holdings and the right of protection thereof, which we may demand of the State, or, if they are not legal, to force the State to reimburse us for our expenditure and time and money.  

MAY MAKE ANOTHER DESCENT.

While the wise counsels of the old men of City Island have prevailed upon the young oystermen to declare a truce of twenty-four hours, it was openly boasted upon the streets of City Island last night that another descent upon the Matinecock bed will be made on Tuesday morning bright and early.  

'We are only waiting to hear Collector Kilbreth's decision,' said one man.  'If he's with us we'll go up there with a revenue cutter, and if the State authorities resist there'll be fun, too, for there's many a man in our fleet that can run like 'Lobster Pete,' and if they ain't careful send their boat on the rocks, or, we might give 'em a stand-up fight that would surprise 'em.  Don't forget, young man, our ancestors sailed with Commodore Perry and won many a sea battle for Uncle Sam.'

Capt. 'Lobster Pete' Curran's brilliant escape from the officers on Saturday made a hero of him in the eyes of his townsmen.  When he slipped into the harbor late Saturday night they gave him a grand ovation."

Source: OYSTERMEN TALK FIGHT -- The So-Called Pirates Threaten Another Descent on the Matinecock Company's Beds, The World [NY, NY], Apr. 22, 1895, p. 14, cols. 5-6.

"Dispute Over Oyster Grounds.

The contest between the Matinecock Oyster Company and the parties from City Island who robbed their beds, has been temporarily settled by the payment on the part of the defendants of all damages and losses that have occurred by their raid upon the beds.  The Matinnecock [sic] Oyster Company which was incorporated in 1893, has a capital stock of $20,000.  The directors are Geo. M. Fletcher, Wm. J. Youngs, Jacob Smith, Samuel Y. Baylis, Wm. E. Townsend, Stephen Bailey and Thomas Youngs.  They secured the tract of 263 acres of land under water in Long Island Sound off Matinnecock Point, which they had surveyed and the land examined in September, 1893, and according to the decision of the Fish Commissioners it was free from natural growth at that time.  In all questions of this kind the decision of the commission is declared to be final.  The lease was put up at public sale and was bid in by this company.  The City Island people last winter got a law passed repealing the law permitting the Fish Commissioners to lease lands.  The Matinnecock Compoany were, however, instrumental in having a provision inserted to the effect that all leases granted subsequently to Jan. 1, 1893, and up to the time of the passage of this act, be declared valid and the lessees holding under these leases were ratified and confirmed in their franchises by this same amendment.  The company have been very particular not to take an inch beyond their lines and in fact have not planted any beyond a line quite inside of their outer boundary.

In the complaint covering the ground of action which was taken by the Matinnecock Company against the defendants, it was stated that on or about the 12th day of September, 1893, Wm. J. Youngs leased of the State of New York this tract of land in Long Island Sound for a term of fifteen years; that thereafter the said Youngs for a good and valuable consideration transferred the aforesaid lease to the oyster company; that the plaintiff had expended large sums of money in planting and cultivating the said lands under water and that there were now many thousands of bushels of oysters upon said beds which are of great value; that the defendants have entered into an unlawful combination or conspiracy to enter upon the oyster beds of the plaintiff, and to take, steal and carry away said oysters, and that on the 18th, 19th and 20th days of April, 1895, they unlawfully entered upon these beds and stole and carried away large quantities of oysters; that they had threatened to make another raid upon these oyster beds.  It also stated that they had entered into a combination and conspiracy and were fully armed and defied the officers of the law, including the sheriff, who attempted to arrest them, and threatened to kill any person or persons who attempted to board their boats to make an arrest; that they have refused to submit to arrest upon warrants duly issued, and after an arrest in one instance had been effected and on the 20th day of April, 1895, the said defendants or some of them, acting in combination or conspiracy, assisted by a howling mob of desperate characters to the number of at least one hundred and fifty and headed by defendant Jerome Bell, who is a Justice of the Peace of Westchester County, demanded the immediate release of the defendant so arrested, otherwise they threatened the public rescue of the said defendant.  The complaint further declares that the condition of affairs now existing has arrived at such a point that the plaintiff believes and charges that the criminal process of the law is incapable of preventing riot and crime on the part of said defendants.  In conclusion, the plaintiff demands judgment and that the defendants be enjoined, restrained and prohibited from entering upon the oyster beds of the plaintiff.

In answer to this request Judge Barnard granted an injunction against further disturbance of these oyster beds on the 22nd day of April, 1895.

The parties complained of in this suit were:  Augustus D. Merritt and two others, the crew of the sloop Katie D. [sic]; Peter Curran, alias 'Lobster Pete,' and two others, the crew of the sloop Westchester; Jerome Bell, the captain and crew of the sloops Thomas Collins, Kentie, Emogene, Andrew W. Jackson, J. W. Earle, Abe & Will.

It is said the defendants propose to contest in the courts the right of the commissioners to lease any natural growth lands."

Source:  Dispute Over Oyster Grounds, The Long-Islander [Huntington, Long Island], May 4, 1895, Vol. LVIII, No. 39, p. 2, col. 3.

"OYSTERMEN COMPROMISE.
-----
Accused of Piracy Off Oyster Bay Agree to Pay the Matinecock Company.

[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE HERALD.]

GLEN COVE, L. I., May 15, 1895.--A part settlement was reached yesterday between the Matinecock Oyster Company and the alleged oyster pirates of this vicinity and City Island who are accused of poaching on the grounds of the Matinecock Company off Oyster Bay.  

Through their lawyers the alleged poachers made admission of trespass and agreed to pay the Matinecock Company $1,100 damages and also to allow an injunction to be taken restraining free oystermen from poaching on the leased grounds of the company.  Sidney Weeks, of Bayville, was selected to stand trial on the charge of piracy for the purpose of testing the constitutionality of the law."

Source:  OYSTERMEN COMPROMISE, N.Y. Herald, May 16, 1895, p. 6, col. 2.

"GLEN COVE. . . . 

The oystermen of Port Washington and City Island express a determination to contest in the courts the right of the Matinecock Oyster Company to plant oysters upon the ground for which they have a grant from the State commissioners.  Should the courts decide that the granting of the right to plant was oysters on the disputed ground illegal the question will come up whether other people have a right to go and take the oysters that the company have planted on the grounds.  A person may have no authority to leave goods or property on the public highway but does that justify another person or persons in taking possession of his property?  We think it is probable that there will be long and expensive litigation over the question of the right of the company to plant oysters on the 200 acres that they occupy off Matinecock Point. . . . 

The trial of the oystermen who were arrested for taking oysters from the beds of the Matinecock Oyster Company was held before Justice Chas. W. Billings in the town hall in this village on last Wednesday.  Three of the men pleaded guilty and were fined $1 each.  The other one, Capt. Stephens, pleaded not guilty and was fined $15.  The baymen were well pleased with the result.  The cases will be taken to a higher court on appeal."  

Source:  GLEN COVE, The Long Islander [Huntington, Long Island], Jun. 1, 1895, Vol. LVIII, No. 43, p. 4, cols. 2-3.  

"THEIR FUNDS RUNNING SHORT.
-----
The Fish, Game, and Forest Commission Dismisses Eighteen Employees.

ALBANY, Dec. 7.--The Fish, Game, and Forest Commission has had so many men on its pay roll that its funds have run short, and to-day it dismissed Mark C. Finlay of Wayne county, the special agent for the detection of fraud, whose duties were so vague that it took weeks of explanation before the Civil Service Commission would consent to his appointment on the non-competitive examination basis.  John Ferguson, an oyster protector of Suffolk county, and John Liberty, a clerk in the office here, who has been with the Fish Commission ever since its organization, were also dropped, together with fifteen of the thirty-three game and fish proectors, who get $500 a year and $450 for expenses.  These victims are J. L. Ackerly of Yates, Thomas Donnelly of Warsaw, Ira Elmendorf of Ulster, A. B. Klock of Herkimer, J. H. Lamphere of Cayuga, James D. Lawrence of Delaware, B. S. Morrill of Clinton, C. M. Prouty of Washington, Riley M. Rush of Oneida, William A. Ten Eyck of Saratoga, George B. Smith of Chemung, T. J. Brooks of Monroe, D. G. Holmes of Hamilton and O. S. Potter of Oswego.  Several special game protectors, whose services are paid for by clubs, were appointed.

The Attorney-General was requested to designate some lawyer to act as special counsel for the Commission in its attempt to get possession of the books, papers, and accounts of Secretary E. P. Doyle and the old Fish Commission.  It was also decided that nothing but a special act of the Legislature could help ex-Assemblyman Billy Youngs and the Matinnecock [sic] Oyster Company out of the hole the old Fish Commission left them in when it accepted their bid of $4.40 per acre for an oyster bed they had spent $11,000 on.  The old Fish Commission and its secretary, according to Mr. Youngs, promised to let them have the bed at the usual price, but delayed giving them a lease till a season's work had been done, when they permitted a lot of 'straw bidders' to force them to bid the franchise up to $4.40 per acre.  They afterward promised to throw out the forced bids and let them pay the usual price of 25 cents per acre.  The old Fish Commission went out of office leaving no record except that requiring the $4.40 per acre payment, which means $2,100.  The present Commissioners are satisfied that Mr. Youngs's claim is correct, but that they have no power to release him.

The investigation into the alleged discrepancies in the financial accounts of Secretary Doyle is going on, and he has turned in over $7,000 in checks to square irregularities that it was said did not exist; has paid bills against the old Fish Commission amount to several hundred dollars, and handed in $1,800 on the oyster bed franchise account that was not turned over when he went out of office.  As Commissioner Lyman expresses it:  'We have none of the books, and are constantly told that there are no discrepancies, but Mr. Doyle is as frequently handing over his checks for various amounts.'"

Source:  THEIR FUNDS RUNNING SHORT, The Sun [NY, NY], Dec. 8, 1895, p. 5, col. 4.

"Old Long Island
-----
Boss Youngs' Oyster Company Lost Prestige When Court Cleared Man of Stealing Shellfish

By Harry Weinberg

A trial that aroused the interest of many people on Long Island, not only because of the importance of the case itself, but because of the people involved, is recorded in The Long Island Farmer of May 24, 1895.  It was the trial of Sidney Weeks of Bayville, who was accused of unlawfully taking oysters from the oyster beds of the Matinecock Oyster Company in which County Republican Leader William J. Youngs of Queens held a large interest.

The company was said to hold a monopoly on some of the richest oyster beds on the Long Island coast.  Independent oystermen were fighting this alleged monopoly and the trial was considered to be a test case.

The Farmer was vitally interested because it was politically opposed to Youngs.

The story bore the headline 'Oyster Monopolists Beaten' with a subheadline reading 'Boss Youngs' Land Grabbing Company Gets a Severe Upset.' The article read:

'The trial of Sidney Weeks of Bayville, which took place before Justice Billings and a jury at Glen Cove on Tuesday, resulted in the acquittal of the defendant on the charge of unlawfully taking oysters from the beds of Boss Billy Youngs' Matinecock Oyster Company off Matinecock Point.  

'This is a most important feature in the oyster war at present waging between the oyster men and the Matinecock Company, in that the verdict of the jury did not sustain the claim of the company for protection for the oysters placed on their regularly leased land under water.

'Mr. Weeks is one of the oystermen arrested recently in a raid by the company on the alleged encroachers on their beds and is the first one to face a criminal charge of oyster piracy.

'On the opening of the court, Counselor Stoddard, who is associated with Boss Youngs as counsel for the company, filed the leases and grants with the court and after the drawing of the jury called George M. Fletcher, president of the company, and Samuel T. Baylis, treasurer of the company, to testify as to the raid and the presence of buoys.

'The company proved the loss of a lot of oysters and appeared to make out a fair case, but the defense knocked it sky high, notwithstanding the apparent bias of the court, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

'Boss Youngs was the organizer of the oyster monopoly and is the largest stockholder.  The company leases 200 acres of bay bottom, but the oyster gatherers who are opposed to the monopoly claim that the company is working over 500 acres.  

'The verdict gives Boss Youngs a severe setback.' . . . "

Source:  Weinberg, Harry, Old Long Island -- Boss Youngs' Oyster Company Lost Prestige When Court Cleared Man of Stealing Shellfish, Long Island Daily Press, May 25, 1934, p. 24, cols. 6-7.

"THE OYSTER WAR OVER
-----
Merritt's Case Settled -- The Fight to Be Taken to U.S. Courts.

OYSTER BAY, April 30.--The Matinecock oyster war has collapsed.  The case of Augustus D. Merritt, one of the pirates, who was arrested while dredging for oysters, was settled out of court.  When the case was called this morning, the lawyers asked for an adjournment, and then talked the matter over.  As a result, Counsellor Staddart announced to the court that he desired to put the case over one week.  Lawyer Henderson stated that he was willing to reimburse the company for the oysters stolen, providing his client was released.  This was agreed to.

The grounds operated upon by the oyster company were surveyed yesterday, and it was found that it did not operate more territory than its lease calls for.  The oystermen will now take the case to the United States courts, upon the grounds that the company is working natural beds.  The oystermen met and subscribed to a fund for the purpose.  The oyster company will accept the issue gladly, and make a test case of the suit."

Source:  THE OYSTER WAR OVER -- Merritt's Case Settled -- The Fight to Be Taken to U.S. Courts, The World [NY, NY], May 1, 1895, p. 9, col. 3.

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Below are links to more stories about Pelham's rich oystering traditions.


















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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

The 1895 Oyster War Involving City Island Oystermen - Part I


This is the first of a two-part series.  For both parts, see:

Wed., Jun. 24, 2015:  The 1895 Oyster War Involving City Island Oystermen - Part I.

Thu., Jun. 25, 2015:  The 1895 Oyster War Involving City Island Oystermen - Part II.

It was early spring in the year 1895.  Another oyster war was at hand.  City Island oystermen and others readied forty sloops to descend upon the waters above 2,000 acres of natural oyster beds off the shore of Matinecock, Long Island.  With rumors of the oystermen's flotilla afoot, a local judge in Matinecock ordered a friendly Sheriff to protect the oyster beds.  The Sheriff assembled fifteen armed deputies and police officers and commandeered a tugboat named, ironically (though, perhaps, appropriately), the "Golden Rule" to transport the tiny army to the oyster beds and to conduct the protective patrol ordered by the judge.

The City Island oystermen were convinced that a man named George M. Fletcher, President of the Matinecock Oyster Company, was behind efforts to use friendly local courts and friendly (and armed) local police to secure oyster beds that City Island oystermen believed were public and available to be harvested by all.   In their view, the Matinecock Oyster Company was unlawfully trying to expand the oyster beds it controlled beyond the 200 acres of beds that all recognized to be the company's off Matinecock Point.  The company successfully obtained a lease, confirmed by the State legislature, of its 200 acres of beds.  In an apparent belief that it would succeed in obtaining leases for a much larger area, however, the company apparently had seeded nearly 2,000 acres of natural oyster beds in the same area.  Though the company did not receive the leases it sought, it believed it had a vested interest in the beds it had seeded.  More importantly, the company clearly was prepared to protect that investment.

In addition to preparing their invasion, the City Island oystermen also believed that they had an ace up their sleeve.  They had retained a lawyer and had a lawsuit of their own ready to file against the company.  The waters off City Island in the Town of Pelham were on the brink of another oyster war.  

What was really going on here?  The dean of City Island oystermen, Joshua Leviness, previously had testified in unrelated proceedings that a single, diligent oysterman could work up to 200 acres of oyster beds effectively.  The Matinecock Oyster Company was not a single oysterman.  It was a company intending to control the ever-shrinking oyster beds of Long Island Sound that had been worked by individual City Island oystermen and others for generations.  City Island oystermen, in short, believed that no man should work more than the 200 acres that all believed were the outer limits of what was possible for a single oysterman.

Moreover, the City Island oystermen believed that the lease obtained by the Matinecock Oyster Company was procured through fraud.  Such leases could only be awarded for barren underwater lands that then could be prepared and seeded to create new oyster beds.  The aggrieved oystermen pointed out that dredging the area brought up huge oysters known as "double extras" that were ten to twelve years old, thus proving that the lease applications claiming the area was barren were fraudulent.

To the City Island oystermen, this was a matter of principle.  They, the everyday working men of City Island who had made their living in the oyster industry for generations, felt obliged to fight the incursion of a company that hoped to control and improve the natural oyster beds that the City Island oystermen felt were a public resource to be exploited through the hard work and sweat of industrious individual oystermen.  

The City Island oystermen also were concerned with the nature of the beast they were readying to fight.  The Matinecock Oyster Company was incorporated in 1893.  Two years later, in 1895, its President was George M. Fletcher.  Its Secretary was William J. Young of Oyster Bay, known locally as "Boss Billy Young."  Its treasurer, also of Oyster Bay, was Samuel Y. Baylis.  See LONG ISLAND INSTITUTIONS - Financial, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac 1895, Vol. X, [First Edition], p. 83 (Brooklyn, NY:  Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1895).  By 1895, Boss Billy Young reputedly was the largest shareholder of the Matinecock Oyster Company.  

It seemed there would be an epic battle.  City Island oystermen joined in the fray.  Oystermen from Bayville, Long Island were instrumental as well.  In fact, the first oysterman to be arrested for allegedly encroaching on the disputed oyster beds and to be criminally charged was Sidney Weeks of Bayville.  He was tried in Glen Cove, Long Island on Tuesday, May 21, 1895.  "The company proved the loss of a lot of oysters and appeared to make out a fair case, but the defense knocked it sky high, notwithstanding the apparent bias of the court, and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty."  Source:  Oyster Monopolists Beaten, Antique Archives, Jul. 28, 2008 (citing Boss Youngs's Land Grabbing Gets a Severe Upset, The Long Island Farmer [Jamaica, NY], May 24, 1895, p. 1).  

 Late Thursday, May 16, 1895, the oystermen held a "council of war."  The oystermen agreed to "seize" the oyster beds claimed by Matinecock Oyster Company the following day in defiance of the company and the injunction it had obtained.  

Early on Friday, May 17, 1895, the oystermen assembled in a fleet of forty oyster sloops and headed for the waters off Matinecock.  "Every man at the wheel had a double-barrelled shotgun across his knee, and in his weather-beaten face a look of fixed determination."  Off the shore of Matinecock they began dredging and dragging in "oysters by the hundreds of bushels."   

The few "guards" watching over the beds fled and spread the alarm that a pirate fleet had seized the beds and were harvesting oysters.  The company president, George M. Fletcher, hustled to the scene with two deputy sheriffs.  Though the group bobbed about in a boat shouting to every skipper that he was trespassing and engaged in larceny, the tiny group was met with nothing but "derisive smiles."  Before their very eyes, each of the sloops continued dragging up bushels and bushels of oysters until they had taken more than one thousand bushels were collected.  At nightfall, the sloops hove up anchors and taunted Fletcher and the Deputy Sheriffs saying "Good night! Good night! . . . We go home, but trusting to God and a fair wind we will be back to-morrow."

Fletcher would have none of it.  Overnight he arranged for the small steamer tug named the "Golden Rule" and fifteen armed men to assist him with stopping the oyster pirates.  Early the next morning, the tug was hidden out of sight within an inlet near Matinecock.  Soon, the oyster pirates were back on the beds.

The tug burst out of the inlet under a full head of steam.  An alert oysterman saw what was happening and blew a pre-arranged warning signal from a trumpet.  The chase was on as the oyster sloops scattered.  

The tug bore down on two sloops that were nearest.  The first was the "Westchester" captained by "Lobster Pete" Curran of City Island.  The second was the "Katie G." captained by Augustus D. Merritt (also of City Island), who was having trouble with his sloop.   The Golden Rule took off after Lobster Pete first.

For two hours the steamer tried to run down Lobster Pete's sloop.  Finally, with one of his crew on the mast as a lookout, Lobster Pete maneuvered his sloop between rocks into shallow water near the New York shore where the larger tug could not maneuver.  Lobster Pete taunted the tug from a distance while it peeled off after Captain Merritt and the Katie G. which was finally underway.

Captain Merritt wasn't quite the sailor as Lobster Pete.  During the cat and mouse game of the chase, Merritt tacked too close to the steamer and three armed men leaped into his sloop.  He attempted to pull the tiller hard over and sweep the boom across the deck to knock the men overboard.  Just as the boom swept them and pinned them near the taffrail right before knocking them overboard, the sheet hung up on the tiller and saved the men.  Six more leaped into the sloop and Merritt soon was in irons.  

The police took Merritt to City Island, of all places, to place him in front of a justice.  On City Island, things got ugly. A crowd of nearly 400 angry City Islanders gathered on the wharf where the tug had docked. They circled about the prisoner and police and “laid their hands on their weapons.” They angrily threatened to rescue Merritt from his captors. Only Merritt prevented violence, telling his friends and neighbors to let the law take its course and vowing to fight in court. Still the angry crowd continued “to growl at the police and to jeer them” as Merritt was carted away to jail. Within days, it appears, several more of the oystermen were identified and charged.

[End of Part I - Articles and Images Constituting the Research for this Posting Appear Below.]

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"CHASING THE OYSTER PIRATES FROM THE MATINECOCK BEDS.
(THE SLOOP KATIE G. PURSUED BY THE TUG GOLDEN RULE
MANNED BY POLICE AND DEPUTY SHERIFFS.)"
Source:  CHASED OYSTER PIRATES, The World [NY, NY],
Apr. 21, 1895, p. 5, cols. 1-5.



Sketches of City Island Oystermen Including "Lobster Pete" Curran.
Source:  WILL DEFY THE SHERIFF, The World [NY, NY],
Apr. 23, 1895, p. 8, cols. 2-3.

"WILL DEFY THE SHERIFF
-----
Oystermen to Dredge at Matinecock Point To-Day Despite the Officers of the Law.
-----
AN ARMED TUG PATROLS THE BEDS.
-----
The Men Have Been Enjoined from Trespass, but Their Lawyer Advised Them to Dredge -- Trouble Feared.
-----

The situation at City Island is getting more strained every day, and a clash between the law officers and the oystermen may occur at any time at the Matinecock oyster beds.

President George M. Fletcher, of the Matinecock Company, had a long conference with his lawyer, William J. Youngs went before Justice Barnard in Long Island City and secured an injunction restraining all fishermen from encroaching upon the grounds leased to the company by the Fish Commission of the State of New York.

Judge Barnard sent for Sheriff Dohl and instructed him to see that the Court's orders were carried out.  The tug Golden Rule was engaged by Sheriff Dohl, who, with Deputy Sheriff Billings and fifteen other deputies and police, proceeded to the oyster beds and watched for a possible raid.  They remained under Glen Cove Point all night in readiness to meet the projected descent of the oystermen this morning.

The City Islanders have decided to make a descent on the beds on the advice of their lawyer, Henry Clay Henderson, of No. 68 Broad street, this city.  Twenty-five sloops are ready to start this morning.  Capt. Curran, of the Westchester; CCapt. John Price and Augustus D. Price, of the Katie G., called on the lawyer yesterday.  He made preparations to begin suit against George M. Fletcher, President of the Matinecock Oyster Company; Samuel P. Billings, Deputy Sheriff of Queens County, and Sergt. John Egan,, of the Long Island Railroad police, for false arrest and kidnapping.  The papers will be served to-day.  

'Now,,' said Mr. Henderson, 'my advice to you is to go right ahead and dredge the oyster beds off Matinecock Point.'

'When can we start?' asked 'Lobster Pete' Curran.

'Immediately,' replied Lawyer Henderson.  'Nobody has any right to stop you, provided you do not encroach upon the 200 acres of the Matinecock Oyster Company's preserves.'  

'But we never have,' said 'Lobster Pete.'  'Where we are dredging is outside their preserves.'

'I am sure of that,' said Mr. Henderson.

'Then, be ------ if we don't start at sun-up to-morrow,' said 'Lobster Pete.'  'If it comes to a killing they'll outrage the law, not us.'

Lawyer Henderson and the skippers went to the office of the Fish Commission, No. 53 Broadway.  A clerk showed the official survey of the holdings of the Matinecock Oyster Company to Lawyer Henderson.  The survey shows a rectangle with an area of 200 acres, bearing northwest about one thousand yards from Matinecock Point.  

The oystermen protested they had never dredged in that section.  The clerk said the grounds would be resurveyed on Thursday.  Mr. Henderson said the legality of the company's claim to the 200 acres was not questioned, and if they staked that off honestly there would be no further trouble with the oystermen.  He held a consultation with instructions to go to the beds and dredge to their hearts' content.

'This whole matter is an outrage,' said Mr. Henderson.  'We don't question the right of this monopoly to prevent these poor, hard-working oystermen from dredging oysters on the 200 acres that the State has leased to them.  They have a right to drive them away, for the Legislature by statute has legalized that lease, but this corporation is not seeking to be honest.  Not satisfied with its 200-acre holding, it seeks to pre-empt the whole 2,000 acres of that bed of natural growth of oysters.  As a matter of fact, the rich corporation spent, as they claim their $25,000 in planting seed oysters over the whole bed in the hope that they would get leases for the whole bed, and now that they find they cannot secure the whole property, they are trying to frighten the oystermen away.'

Judge Charles Billings, before whom the oystermen's case come up Friday, said last night:  'The situation up here is more alarming than is generally believed.  Both sides believe they have the law on their side, and both are equally determined.  It is a very serious issue if the law is not permitted to take its course, as we trust it will be.  Several Bayville oystermen came over to me late this afternoon and wanted to swear out warrants against the Matinecock Company, because, they claimed, the corporation was removing oysters from the bed by steam dredges [which was barred by law].  I couldn't issue the warrants for lack of jurisdiction, but it shows how bitter they are.'

Late last night Deputy Sheriffs Billings and Lucas arrested Capt. Weeks, of the Bayville fleet, on the charge of poaching on the Matinecock oyster beds.  Weeks showed fight, but was overpowered and locked up in the jail at Glen Cove."

Source:  WILL DEFY THE SHERIFF, The World [NY, NY], Apr. 23, 1895, p. 8, cols. 2-3.

"LATEST LONG ISLAND NEWS.
-----
Warrants Issued Against the Alleged Oyster Pirates.
-----
AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNOR.
-----
He refuses to Call Upon the Naval Militia Unless All Ordinary Means of Suppression Are First Used. . . .
----- 

(Special to the Eagle.)

Oyster Bay, L. I., April 20 -- the Matinecock oyster pirate war now in progress waxes warm.  The tug loaded with deputies, which was sent yesterday to the scene of depredation, found eleven boats at work, but no arrests were made.  The so-called pirates claim fraud in the manner in which the leases were procured.  They argue the beds thus secured by the Matinecock company are and always were known as natural growth oyster beds and as such are open to all.  The officers of the company are very reticent about the further action they intend to pursue, but it is known that a telegram has been sent to Governor Morton giving a statement of the facts and it is believed that if the sheriff finds his force inadequate to suppress the pirates, he will request the aid of the naval reserves.  In addition to this charge of larceny and misdemeanor under chapter 320 of laws of 1894, the alleged pirates will be prosecuted under charges of conspiracy, and civil suit for damages will also be brought immediately for loss of property.  Warrants were issued by Justice Billings this morning for the arrest of the boats.  This form of procedure by a recent amendment to the penal code is made possible and the warrants will be served to-day.  Feeling runs high and opinions differ widely as to the outcome."

Source:  LATEST LONG ISLAND NEWS -- Warrants Issued Against the Alleged Oyster Pirates, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Apr. 20, 1895, p. 7, col. 3.  

"An Appeal Made to Governor Morton.

(Special to the Eagle.)

Albany, N. Y., April 20 -- A telegram was received this afternoon by Governor Morton from the Mattinecock Oyster company of Queens county, which has its headquarters at Oyster Bay, announcing that parties believed to be armed had seized its oyster beds.  The sheriff of the county had taken a force to disperse the pirates, but, the dispatch said, in the event of the sheriff's failure, the company would look to the governor to send the naval militia to its aid.  The company is a chartered corporation and leases its oyster beds from the state.  Governor Morton sent a reply by telegraph to the effect that he should first expect the sheriff to exhaust all his resources in suppressing the trouble before state aid could be looked for.  Colonely Ashley W. Cole said that in the event of the naval militia being ordered into service the troops would go to the scene of warfare on the New Hampshire, a sailing vessels, which it would be necessary to tow to the point where the trouble exists."

Source:  An Appeal Made to Governor Morton, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Apr. 20, 1895, p. 7, col. 3.

"CHASED OYSTER PIRATES
-----
Forty Sloops Driven From the Matinecock Beds at Pistol Point.
-----
HOT CHASE OF THE WESTCHESTER.
-----
Her Captain, 'Lobster Pete,' Ran Her Through the Rocks, Where a Pursuing Tug Could Not Follow.
-----
BUT THE DAPPER KATIE G. WAS CAUGHT.
-----
Sheriff Billings Put Her Captain in Irons, and a Rescue Was Threatened at Oyster Cove -- Men Are Bitter.
-----

The bitter feelings of the oystermen around City Island against the Matinecock Oyster Company's monopoly of the oyster-beds reached an acute stage last Thursday.  That day a counsel [sic] of war was held by the men and it was determined to seize the oyster-beds in defiance of the company's privilege.

Early Friday morning a fleet of forty sloops spread their sails to the early breeze and sped out upon their piratical expedition.  Within an hour they had dropped anchor off Matinecock and were dragging in the oysters by the hundreds of bushels.  Every man at the wheel had a double-barrelled [sic] shotgun across his knee, and in his weather-beaten face a look of fixed determination.  

The guards of the Matinecock Oyster Company were daunted.  They fled, carrying the alarming tidings to their masters, that the pirate fleet had seized  the beds.  President Fletcher acted promptly.  Taking with him two deputy sheriffs, he swooped down upon the fleet.

'I warn you to get off my preserves.  This is private property, and every man who takes an oyster hence is guilty of larceny,' he shouted to every skipper.  He was met with derisive smiles and [illegible].  Before his eyes they continued to drag up bushel after bushel of oysters.  Over one thousand bushels were taken that day.  Then when nightfall came the saucy little fleet calmly hove up anchors and was wafted homeward.

'Good night!  good night! cried the skippers over the water to the abashed patrol.  'We go home, but trusting to God and a fair wind we will be back to-morrow.'

CALLED ON THE SHERIFF.

President Fletcher hustled.  A summary meeting of the company was called and the Town Hall of Oyster Bay fairly rang with their indignation that Friday night.  A messenger was sent to the Sheriff of Queens County, calling upon him in the name of the law to protect the property of the Matinecock Oyster Company from the oyster pirates.  He promised aid.

The big tug Golden rule, of Brooklyn, Capt. Bacon, was engaged.  Late Friday night she started from Long Island City with her cabin full of policemen and deputy sheriffs, in charge of Sergt. John Egan and Officers Drall and Alvan.  There were fifteen of them in all -- all armed and prepared to shed blood if it came to a fight, and they expected it would.  

It was past midnight when the little man-of-war tied up to the dock at Glen Cove.  There a council of war was held with Deputy-Sheriff S. P. Billings, who was on the ground.  He took command of the vessel and the party slept on their arms.

WENT TO MEET THE PIRATES.

Bright and early yesterday morning [i.e., Saturday, April 20, 1895], the Golden Rule, with President Fletcher and his armed guard steamed furtively out of the cove and took a concealed position in an inlet near Matinecock Point.  There they were joined by a World reporter and an artist.  

Mean time the oyster fleet had arrived.  Anchors were down and the dredges were hard at work.  

Suddenly from the ambush the Golden Rule shot out under a full head of steam.  She bore down upon the fleet with tremendous speed.  A fifteen-knot breeze was blowing from the westward, and the waters of the Sound were covered with angry white-caped waves, the spray of which dashed over the pilot-house as the little steamer buried her nose in the sea.

PIRATE BOATS FLED.

But a surprise had been frustrated by the alert lookout in the pirate fleet.  A warning trumpet gave a hoarse blare.  Quick as thought dredges came up, anchors were weighed, the graceful pirates spread their pinions to the fierce but friendly breeze, and bore away to the southward.

But ill luck followed two of the most daring of the fleet.  The sloop Westchester, Capt. Peter Curran, known throughout the waters of the Sound as 'Lobster Pete,' and far-famed for his gallantry and dauntless nerve, got in 'irons.' Capt. Augustus D. Merritt, of the Katie C., got his mainsail stuck, and was in a predicament as bad as that of the dauntless Peter.  Steadily and swiftly the Golden Rule bore down upon the two unfortunate craft.

'Surrender,' cried Deputy-Sheriff Billings to 'Lobster Pete.'

'I'll be d----d first,' came back the hoarse answer.

'That's the man we want,' cried President Fletcher.

'Yes that's him; with him at large this fight will last all summer,' cried Sergt. Eagan.

BORE DOWN ON PETE.

'Bear down on him and run him down if we must,' shouted the Sheriff, and the sturdy nose of the Golden Rule was pointed at the broadside of the trim little Westchester. 

For a full minute the fate of the little sloop hung in the balance.  'Lobster Pete' toiled manfully at his tiller and sheet and both of his sailor men ran forward and pushed the fluttering jib into the wind.  The little sloop would not fall off.  She hung in the wind there like a wounded bird.  On rushed the Golden Rule.  Two hundred yards--one hundred yards--fifty yards remained between her and her prey.  Then the wind shifted two points more around to the westward and blew harder.

The great sail filled and the skipper threw his wheel hard to starboard, and the little boat thrilled with energy.  Off she went to the southward with every inch of her canvas spread, and showed her heels to her pursuers.

'Catch me and I am your meat,' cried Skipper Curran as the Golden Rule hurried on in the West Chester's wake.

CHASING THE WESTCHESTER.

There were four miles ahead of good open running, but the steam is swifter than the sloop.  The Golden Rule was almost upon the Westchester when she went over to the port tack.

In a moment the Golden Rule rushed by, and both boats were hurrying away from each other as fast as steam and sail could carry them.

Then the Golden Rule put about and started anew after the fugitive, now making for the Long Island shore.  Again and again 'Lobster Pete' repeated the trick of tacking, each time gaining a cable's length on his pursuers.  

For two hours thus the chase continued.  Gradually the two boats had worked there way over to the lee of the New York shore.

PETE RAN AMONG ROCKS.

Then it was that a lookout scrambled up to the crosstrees of the sloop's mast.  

'Look out for rocks!' shouted Skipper Curran.  'Sing out when you sight any.  I'll lead these fellows to a merry chase!'

'He's trying to run her on the rocks,' said Capt. Bacon.  'He'll take us in a trap if we don't look sharp.'

A moment later the lookout sang out:  'Scotch Cap buoy two points to starboard -- there are rocks, sir!'

Curran altered his course and made for the rocks.  The breeze had freshened, and the little sloop was holding her own with the steamer.  Nearer and nearer drew the ugly looking rocks.

The waters seethed and churned between them, but Curran kept on.  Five minutes more and he would either pile his boat a shapeless wreck upon the shoals, or by marvellous seamanship take her over them into waters where she would be safe from pursuit, for the big tug draws twelve feet, while the Westchester's draught is not three feet.

On went the little craft, while her pursuers wondered at her skipper's daring.

She was nearly upon the rocks.  The Golden Rule was almost upon her, for the wind had lightened.  

SAFE BEHIND THE ROCKS.

Suddenly the West Chester altered her course three points and dashed in between two rocks, the entrance between which was so narrow that the big sharp pieces of granite almost scraped her sides.  Then she jibed and went scudding safely through the breakers into smooth water, and was safe.  Even the enemy cheered her as she dropped anchor and her skipper waved defiance at the thwarted pursuers.

Abandoning all hope of capturing the Westchester, the Golden Rule returns to the fishing ground in quest of Capt. Merritt, and the Katie G.  The skipper had just filled away, and another exciting chase began.

CAPTURED THE KATIE.

By jibing and going about wherever the Golden Rule came within striking distance, Skipper Merritt avoided his pursuit for hours.  Finally, however, he was caught.  In going about he brought his stern within two feet of the tug's side.  Sergt. Egan and three men then leaped upon the sloop.  'You have no right on my ship; leave her or I'll knock you all overboard,' cried the captain.  

'You are under arrest,' cried Sergt. Egan.

'The overboard you go,' shouted Merritt.  He put his tiller hard over, the ship jibed suddenly and with tremendous force the big boom swept across the deck.  The police were thrown from their feet and would have been swept overboard had not the sheet caught in the tiller and stopped the boom just as it had dragged the policemen to the taffrail.  

Six men followed them over from the Golden Rule.

PUT THE CAPTAIN IN IRONS.

'Put the cuffs on him,' said the Sergeant, 'he's a dangerous man,' and Capt. Merritt was overpowered and put in irons.  Afterwards he promised to make no further resistance, and he was permitted to have the freedom of the cabin of the Golden Rule.  His sloop was left in charge of the crew, and the prisoner was taken down to City Island as it was thought best to have the Justice there indorse the warrant.  There was some doubt if the officers had authority to arrest in Westchester County on a warrant issued in Queens County.  

There was a great demonstration when the Golden Rule, with her prisoner, arrived.  Four hundred men surrounded the ship.  Daniel Mulligan led them.

'Let's rescue him, boys,' he cried, and the crowd made a dash for the officer.  They formed a circle about the prisoner and laid their hands on their weapons.  Then Merritt shouted out:

'Boys, my arrest is an outrage, but let the law take its course,' and they quieted down, though they still continue to growl at the police and to jeer them.  The prisoner was taken to Glen Cove, where Justice Billings held him in $400 for trial Saturday next.

MERRITT WILL FIGHT IN COURT.

'We have a right to dredge in this ground and we are going to fight it to the Court of Appeals if necessary,' said Merritt.  'That is a natural-growth oyster bed and the Fish Commission have no right to lease it to anybody.'

'We have spend $35,000 on that property,' said President Fletcher, 'and we shall make a bitter fight.  The State is bound to protect us.  If our case cannot be protected against pirates, then the State must reimburse us.  That is what we want to establish.'

A meeting of the oystermen will be held to-morrow at City Island.  John Price, jr., will preside.  Mr. Price said last night that the fleet would go to the oyster bed again Monday.  In that event there will probably be another clash.  Wise heads among the oystermen are counselling moderation, but they are determined men.  Equally so are President Fletcher and his men."

Source:  CHASED OYSTER PIRATES, The World [NY, NY], Apr. 21, 1895, p. 5, cols. 1-5.



"MOB THREATENS TO RESCUE CAPT. MERRITT.
(A CROWD ASSEMBLED ON THE WHARF AT CITY ISLAND,
BUT THE PRISONER COUNSELLED MODERATION.)
Source:  CHASED OYSTER PIRATES, The World [NY, NY],
Apr. 21, 1895, p. 5, cols. 2-3.

"TO STOP OYSTER PIRACY; 
Deputies Start for Oyster Bay to Serve an Injunction. 
STATE FISH COMMISSION APPEALED TO 
Asked to Define Oyster Bed Boundaries, as the "Pirates" Claim They Have Not Trespassed. 

OYSTER BAY, L.I., April 22. -- The oyster war is now practically at a standstill, pending developments.  Judge Barnard to-day, after listening to the arguments of William J. Young and Counselor Stoddard, issued an injunction restraining all parties from dredging or taking oysters from the grounds now claimed by the Matinecock Oyster Company. . . . "

Source:  TO STOP OYSTER PIRACY, N.Y. Times, Apr. 23, 1895. 

"LATEST LONG ISLAND NEWS.

-----
Shell Fish Commissioner Thompson Will Settle the Oyster War.
-----
A SURVEY TO BE MADE TO-DAY.
-----
Claims of the Matinecock Company and the Oystermen Clearly Stated. . . . 
-----

(Special to the Eagle.)

Oyster Bay, L. I., April 26--The survey of the Matinecock oyster beds which was to have been made yesterday will not be made until Monday, when Edward Thompson, the president of the Northport Publishing company, whose nomination was yesterday confirmed by the senate as a member of the fish and game commission, will conduct the investigation.  He has been selected as the shell fish commissioner of the board and as he is highly thought of as a man of sound common sense and absolute impartiality, the people hereabouts interested in the oyster dispute look to a speedy and amicable settlement of the existing troubles.  The oystermen are resting on their oars, so to speak, and no developments are looked for until Monday, though yesterday the Matinecock company's steam dredge C. N. Hoyt was at work all day on the disputed oyster beds.

Mr. Thompson's appointment is not looked upon favorably by the oystermen.  They call him a monopolist oyster planter and say that in the pending oyster planter and say that in the pending oyster trouble his sympathies will be with the Matinecock company.  Ten or twelve years ago he laid claim to a bed of natural oysters in the sound, off Smithtown.  He was then foreman of the St. Johnland farm.  He arrested one William Piroth who was tried for stealing oysters before Judge Huntington.  A judgment of $250 was taken against Piroth and the Oyster Bay oystermen helped pay the money.

A preliminary survey of the boundaries of the oyster beds will be made this afternoon by Mr. Ford of the firm of Ford & Balch, New York city.

The history of the oyster war goes back to two years ago, when the Matinecock Oyster company was formed with George M. Fletcher as president; Jacob Smith, vice president; Samuel Y. Bayles, treasurer, and William J. Youngs, secretary.

For many years the land under water in Long Island sound, at and around Matinecock Point, has been dredged and raked at will by the oystermen generally and proved a source of considerable revenue, as it abounded in natural growth oysters from seed to marketable size.  It has been the custom of many of the local oystermen to go down there every year and procure large quantities of seed without any expense save that incurred in taking it up.  

After its incorporation the Matinecock company made application to the state fish commissioners for a perpetual lease of land under water near Matinecock Point and after the desired land had been duly advertised by the commissioners it was sold to this company, who was the highest bidder.  Buoys ere placed and the lands properly marked, the tract containing 200 acres.  Then came the first opposition on the part of the oystermen, who, it is said, removed the stakes, sunk [sic] the buoys, thus destroying the boundaries and putting the company to much expense.  Notwithstanding all this the company planted quantities of shells and seed oysters, and no trouble arose until last week, when Samuel Y. Bayles went to Matinecock and discovered eleven vessels from City Island and Bayville engaged in removing the oysters from the company's grounds.  Then came the call on the sheriff and the attack on the so-called pirates.

The company's side of the case is thus stated by ex-President Huntington of the fish commission, who said:

There was great complaint at the time made by oyster dredgers, who represented that their means of support was being taken away and that the oyster grounds were being turned into private property.  As a matter of fact, the state never leases an acre of ground on which there is any oyster growth.  The ground is absolutely barren of oysters and the lessees cultivate it just as they would a patch of potatoes or anything else.  They cultivate a bed which previously benefitted no one until they make a good profit for themselves, and at the same time hand over a respectable revenue to the state.  A certain class of men opposed this movement from the first and have an idea that all oyster plants are common property.  There has always been more or less thieving going on on the Long Island coast, but this is the first time that I have ever heard of a regular raid.  A whole fleet of boats swooping down and getting away with 9,000 bushels of oysters from a private plant is rather a bold stroke.  A number of persons made out affidavits to the effect that a man could make $5 or $6  a day off the 200 acres leased to Fletcher & Youngs, and we made an investigation.  We took a steamer and for two days dredged the territory and in that time never found an oyster.  It is right that these men should be protected in their industry.  They have leased 200 acres from the state for a period of fifteen years, and they have already laid out hundreds of dollars in the enterprise.  The state regards it as a misdemeanor for any one to trespass on these leased beds.

The oystermen's version of these claims as given by one of themselves is as follows:

Application to the fish commissioners for a lease of oyster ground are required to be made by presenting a prescribed form signed by three men, who are supposed to swear that the ground is clear of all natural growth and has been for the past five years.  William E. Townsend made such application and presented signatures for land lying east of Matinecock Point, which is more or less soft bottom.  Then he took these applications, not fully made out when signed, filled them out and applied for a lease of land to the westward of the point, upon which was a large natural growth of oysters.  Two years ago the Matinecock company made an affidavit that there was at that time no natural growth and had not been for five years.  It planted on those grounds quantities of shells and also seed oysters, and now, after the lapse of two years, are taking up oysters from these grounds, among which are all sizes, from 1 year old to those of 10 or 12 years' growth, known as double extras.  This alone is prima facie evidence that fraud was practiced and that the ground is natural growth ground, as shells have never been known to turn into the largest and finest oysters in two years.  These oysters were there when the ground was leased, and this is the point raised by the oystermen, and they regard it as their right and legitimate field of action. . . . "

Source:  LATEST LONG ISLAND NEWS -- Shell Fish Commissioner Thompson Will Settle the Oyster War, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Apr. 26, 1895, p. 7, col. 3.  

[See Tomorrow's Posting to the Historic Pelham Blog for Part 2]

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